Hotel Elephant is an Arts Gallery and Project Space. Established in late 2009 as a creative space for an individual Artist, it has grown with the desire to bring creativity to the area, as well as support the local creative community.We are part of the South London Art Map and open for SLAM Last Fridays.

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Logical Design

An exhibition of steel sculpture
created for our temporary gallery space on the Heygate Estate.

Nathan Murphy is a sculptor whose focus is the creation of participatory
experiences through site-specific, sculptural installations.

Murphy was asked to create
a piece, which reacted to or interacted with, the physical, material and
architectural nature of the Heygate.

His interest in Modernist
sculptural language, architectonic and Geometric form is brought together in
his response to the neo-brutalist architecture of the site.

The choice of material is a
poignant reference to the internal construction of the surrounding
architecture. Steel is the material which is added to cast forms of concrete to
give more structural stability and ensure their longevity. By focusing on this
one core material, it will be as if these linear forms have been pulled up from
the midst of the concrete below.

Volume & Void

Private View

03/10/13 6pm - 9pm

Open 04/10/13 - 06/10/13

11am - 6pm

Hotel Elephant’s temporary
gallery space, in the old doctors surgery on the Heygate Estate, provides an
unusual and poignant location to create and exhibit artworks.

Awaiting
demolition, the Heygate Estate was once home to more than 3,000 people. It is
simultaneously volume and void, a mass that dominates its surroundings, yet
also a vast collection of empty and functionless spaces.

Nathan Murphy is a
sculptor whose focus is the creation of participatory
experiences through site-specific, sculptural installations.

Murphy was asked to create
a piece, which reacted to or interacted with, the physical, material and
architectural nature of the Heygate.

His interest in Modernist
sculptural language, architectonic and Geometric form is brought together in
his response to the neo-brutalist architecture of the site.

Cheryl Field’s‘breathing’ inflatable structures present
an interesting juxtaposition to the works of Murphy and Powell.

The installation at Hotel Elephant will draw inspiration from the
sinuous spaces and voids that the various spiraling bridges create around the
Heygate estate. Wanting to play with the physics of filing space, but do so
with the most insubstantial and temporal of materials; air, sound and light.

Reuben Powell’s
work is concerned with the weight and scale of his environment and the impact
on the individuals that experience it. His recent project documenting the
regeneration of the Elephant and Castle comprises of large-scale drawings of
construction and demolition site ‘s and paintings on to tin-plate steel. Powell’s
studio is in the old community centre adjacent to our gallery space, and will
be open for visitors to explore.

About Me

Hotel Elephant is a not for profit company set up to provide space for arts and culture in Southwark.
Due to the kind support of The Peabody Trust and Southwark Council, Hotel Elephant has the use of an amazing 15,000sqft warehouse space and shop front in SE1.
In this new space Hotel Elephant Gallery provides platform and shop window for Southwark artists and designer-makers, giving them the opportunity to sell their work in their neighbourhood.
The warehouse space will house a programme of larger exhibitions, educational workshops and cultural events, along with providing affordable studio space.
Hotel Elephant is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of Southwark, as well as developing self-sustaining and accessible cultural activities in their neighbourhood.